Twitter Eyes Buyout of Justin Bieber-Backed Selfie App Startup

SAN FRANCISCO ( TheStreet) -- Twitter (TWTR) reportedly has held talks to acquire selfie app developer Shots Mobile, which is backed by pop singer Justin Bieber, according to a CNBCreport. Investors may ultimately like such a deal because it could help Twitter ramp up its growth of its user base.

The San Francisco-based app developer disappointed investors in the third quarter when it announced lower than expected growth in its user base. The company added approximately 13 million monthly active users in the quarter to end the period with 284 million users, yet Wall Street was looking for upwards of an additional 18 million monthly active users. As a result, Twitter's stock took a hit of nearly 10% after it reported earnings.

The Shots app works with Twitter by allowing users to snap photos of themselves and share their selfie on their Twitter account or within Shots' own internal social media network. To date, Shots has generated more than 3 million users, according to CNBC, since the app launched a year ago. Of this group, approximately 66% are females under the age of 24 years old.

The size and composition of Shots' user base is apparently driving Twitter's interest in snapping up the startup, CNBC reports.

Adding fuel to the rumors that Twitter is eyeing Shots for a potential buyout is a tweet that Twitter's chief financial officer, Anthony Noto, sent out Monday. In an apparent snafu, Noto was likely looking to send a private direct message to another party, rather than broadcasting it to his thousands of followers. In the tweet, re-posted on re/code, Noto said:

I still think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec. 15 or 16 -- we will need to sell him. I have a plan.

Whether that plan is or was put in action has yet to be seen. It may pay to follow Noto on Twitter for any next steps the social media company may take.

Facebook lead social media shares lower Monday following reports that as many as 50 million of its users may have had their data compromised by a firm acting on behalf of the Donald Trump Presidential campaign.

Global stocks were on the defensive Monday as investors prepared for Wednesday's key move on interest rates and any signals it will provide for the direction of monetary policy heading into the second quarter.